Karen Kuykendall (recently deceased), an exceedingly talented
Arizona-resident artist and writer, wrote the instruction book
and designed the 78 cards for this unique and gorgeous tarot set,
still readily available.

Well-known for her fantasy artwork in a variety of media most
often featuring cats and cats with people as the subject, Karen
here enriches the traditional tarot deck with imagery and characters
from her very personal and original invented otherworld: The Outer
Regions.

The Outer Regions are conceived as existing in a parallel universe,
a very magical place divided into six kingdoms that are represented
by various precious gemstones that serve as the defining emblems
for each ecologically distinct territorial entity. The human inhabitants
dwell in sophisticated civilizations that nevertheless maintain
harmony with the forces of nature.

Cats are the favorite animal in all these realms --everywhere
revered, loved and even obeyed. The people in each of the sextet
of areas, have distinctive appearances, cultures, dress and spiritual/magical
practices but all acknowledge a basic underlying sacred Cosmic
Order. Karen's visuals depict appealing and wondrous folk, strong
men and women that reflect in physiognomy and ornament the indigenous
peoples of the Americas, Asia, Africa and Siberia/Mongolia, all
accompanied by felines of a variety of species. They are rendered
in the artist's unmistakable, unique style rich in exotic detail,
gorgeous colors and dazzling lighting effects set off by beautifully
stylized, complementary backgrounds.

The tarot pack contains full-length portraits of fascinating
people in elaborate costumes with intricate jewelry and headdresses.
The Major Arcana cards represent the Diamond Kingdom. The suit
of Swords embodies the Ruby Kingdom, likewise the suit of Wands,
the Emerald Kingdom, while Cups and Pentacles serve that purpose
for the Topaz and Sapphire Kingdoms respectively.

The 192-page book describes the Outer Regions in the first section,
in considerable detail that reads like an ethnographic account,
yet all of it fascinates, being the creation of a very imaginative
and talented woman. All the cultural and survival activities of
these imagined people, fraught with spiritual significance spelled
out in the text, are then, in the following segments, directly
related to the tarot deck as a means by which to interpret the
image, the divinatory meanings and the reverse meanings. This
embues the process of interpreting the tarot with the exciting
feeling of traveling and exploring in a fantastic new world as
if the plot of a fantasy novel was unfolding while reading the
cards. Nevertheless, the relevance to the reader's personal life
is also crystal clear. Thus while using the included spread sheet
for performing ancient ten-card readings of the past, present
and future, the seeker for knowledge and guidance will enjoy a
very special tarot experience, for these cards are adorned with
appealing and lovely personages both human and feline that obviously
represent characters with rich and complex lives of their own!

The Tarot of the Cat People can't be too highly recommended
for anyone who appreciates exquisite artwork, cats, special tarot
decks and fantasy world-building. For those who crave more of
Karen Kuykendall's Outer Regions, she co-authored a novel (now
out-of-print) of fantastic fiction set in that world with none
other than grandmaster Andre Norton, a superb book titled Mark
of the Cat thankfully republished in 2002 by Meisha Merlin
publishers in an omnibus
volume with a brand new sequel called Year of the Rat
- definitely something about which to purr excitedly!

Serious ailurophiles, collectors and fans of Karen Kuykendall
should seek out her two solo books: Cat People and Other Inhabitants
of the Outer Regions: the Fantasy Art of Karen Kuykendall
(1979) and Karen's Cats (1980), (photos and memoirs of
her cat companions) both published by Desert Diamond Co., PO Box
845, Casa Grande, AZ, 85222. These beautiful volumes will amply
reward those who search for them, for although this lovely artist
is sadly no longer with us, her wonderful work lives on.

About
the Author:Amy Harlib is a 40-something, life-long, avid reader of science fiction
& fantasy literature and graphic novels, retired with plenty of time to indulge
in her passions for reading and cinema. She lives in NYC and welcomes intelligent
feedback and discussion about the genre. Other enthusiasms: cats, archeology /
anthropology / paleontology, folklore and mythology, genre films, science for
intelligent laypersons, and memoirs / narratives as literature. Her email is aharlib@earthlink.net.